Saturday, September 1, 2012

Stay Strong

The children are not enrolled in any activities right now. A few years ago they did soccer. Last summer they took gymnastics. They've always had a pool until recently and we go to the beach a lot. Everywhere we go people are suggesting that I put M in dance or gymnastics or .....

One, we can't afford it. Two, we already have G in school 5 hours a day, M in homeschool group, that's 2 five hour days a week. And getting G to speech 2 times a week, that's a lot of stuff. Three I'm the primary president and cannot get overbooked. Four, we're having a lot of fun together.

I would like the kids to do martial arts when they are older, like 8 and 10. P is generally against this violence, but I've convinced him that it's like dance, but without the sexy. We would like M the strong to someday play volleyball. For better or worse she says cute things like "If I grow a foot taller than daddy, I'll get a scholarship." There is an organization north of town that starts girls in volleyball at age 12.

So in general we've decided to let the kids enjoy their childhood and do a bunch of different activities for 1 year each. I don't see how we'll keep them from having the attitude I hated to see in students "Oh, I know how to do that..." Maybe I'll teach them to say "My parents let me do that for 1 year, it was fun."

When they're 14 I think they get to decide what they want to seriously play/do. There is so much they can do, especially with the beach.

1 comment:

When I look back on all the years with all my children the 'organized' activities, until they reached high school, mostly pass away in mist. It was the things they thought up to do, like crushing berries and using them to paint, or all the various things they got up to down at Holmes Run Stream Park, and the neighborhood parades and other activities that stay in my mind. There is such a thing as fostering imagination, and that usually is different than what happens in a class.